05/29/24

Good morning! It’s Wednesday, May 29th.

National Biscuit Day!

Biscuits as in cookies.

A whole day just for cookies?! Um… yes please.

And now, the news.

Israel-Hamas War

-via AP News, CNN, and Washington Post

Let’s start with the Israel-Hamas war, where the temporary pier built by the US is being removed for repairs after two weeks of use.

The pier was damaged by rough seas and repairs will take over a week before it can be reattached.

In the meantime, the US will continue their delivery of supplies and food via airdrops. Neither the airdrops or pier deliveries can keep up with need – they can only bring food for about less than 30% of the 1.8 million people in Gaza.

Meanwhile, while most of the world condemns Israel’s attack on Rafah over the weekend, 21 people were killed, and 64 were injured, in another encampment in Rafah on Tuesday.

I say most of the world because, on Tuesday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that the weekend’s deadly attack did not, yet, cross the White House’s Red Line, which would force a change in policy.

Instead, they’re going to wait to see what Israel’s investigation, into their own actions, says and then, “we’ll see where it goes from there.”

What’s happening in Gaza is a horror. An actual horror. And I know it’s complicated, politically, but certainly we can agree that, whatever your red line is, certainly it’s in the rear view mirror.

AMC Stabbings

-via CNN

A 26-year-old man is in custody after being accused of stabbing a man through a McDonald’s drive-thru window before stabbing a woman inside the restaurant. Authorities believe the man in custody is also responsible for stabbing four girls at an AMC movie theater an hour earlier.

All of this occurred in Plymouth County, Massachusetts.

The suspect also arrested last month after being accused of assault and battery against a family member.

Last month, after the assault and before the stabbings, he was sent for a mental health evaluation but the hospital didn’t think he’d met the criteria for admittance.

Perhaps that criteria should be reevaluated.

Youngtown Ohio Explosion

-via ABC News

Seven people were injured, and two are missing, after an explosion in downtown Youngstown, Ohio.

The exact cause of the explosion is not yet known, but has been categorized as a natural gas explosion.

Trump Crime Update Time

-via CBS News (Classified Documents) and CNN (Georgia)

And hey, how about some

Trump Crime Update Time

(That dude did so many crimes, edition)

Starting in Florida, where Judge Aileen Cannon continues to make bad move after bad move. So many bad moves, in fact, that you really have to ask – is she a bad judge? Lazy judge? Or is she just so in Trump’s pocket that, if she can push this all off long enough, maybe she’ll earn herself a spot on the court?

In her latest bad move, she denied special council Jack Smith’s, aka Coach Beard’s, request that the court impose a gag order on certain public statements that they argued could pose a danger to law enforcement.

The request came because Trump made public comments saying that Biden authorized FBI agents to kill him when they raided Mar-a-Lago in August 2022.

To be so crystal crystal crystal clear (yeah, three crystals. It’s that important.) – In a policy statement, the FBI said this: “The FBI followed standard protocol in this search as we do for all search warrants, which includes a standard policy statement limiting the use of deadly force. No one ordered additional steps to be taken and there was no departure from the norm in this matter.”

Cannon took issue with the fact that Coach Beard didn’t confer with Team Trump before filing the gag order, which is required by local rules. She called it, "wholly lacking in substance and professional courtesy."

Team Trump was upset at Coach Beard because he sent the email at 530p on a Friday. As if justice keeps bankers hours!

The order was denied without prejudice, which means Coach can resubmit.

And then we’ll zoom on over to Georgia, where Judge McAfee will allow a co-defendant of Trump to go forth in his effort to access thousands of 2020 ballots because he still, almost four years later, thinks the election was stolen.

You are literally in trouble for trying to steal an election with Trump but like – yeah, I guess keep looking for that fraud by voters?

Here’s the thing… the 2020 election wasn’t stolen. Full stop.

Also, the highest rate fraud by voters occurs at .000006%. That’s FIVE zeros after the dot and before the number.

So go ahead. Look all you want. You will not find anything.

But I just don’t like the idea of someone who attempted to steal an election getting access to thousands of ballots. It’s not my favorite.

The reason he is able to keep looking for fraud that doesn’t exist is because he believes that, if he can prove the election was stolen, then raising questions about the election would have been legitimate. Thus, he gets to continue to look for that which does not exist.

What a timeline to be alive!

And that’s it. That’s the news.

I’m proud of… biscuits. They’re great. Really really good.

Biscuits… Coach Beard…

Okay fine, I’ll say it. I’ll say it for you, because you are clearly basically begging me to say it… I’m proud of Ted Lasso! The whole show. Almost every single element.

Also Rebecca Welton.

Also Hannah Waddingham.

But more than that… more than season 4 of Ted Lasso, because you’re both real but I don’t get teased when I talk about how excited I am about the idea of you… I’m proud of you.